NYC Names Chinatown Street for Bullied Pvt. Danny Chen

Danny Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese-American solider who was relentlessly bullied and ultimately committed suicide in 2011, has been immortalized in New York City's Chinatown. City officials unveiled Private Danny Chen Way this week.

When he arrived, Chen was at the bottom of the social hierarchy: a newcomer to his unit, a lowly private, still just a teenager, in a combat zone for the first time. And the only Chinese-American in his platoon. In a meeting with Chen's parents on January 4, Army officials said that his superiors had considered him not fit enough when he arrived, and singled him out for excessive physical exercise: push-ups, flutter-kicks, sit-ups, sprints done while carrying a sandbag. Such punishments resemble the "smokings" that drill sergeants mete out at basic training to correct mistakes. But, in Chen's case, it wasn't long before this campaign of "corrective training" escalated into sheer brutality.

The eight men later charged in connection with his death are all white and range in age from 24 to 35; they include one lieutenant, two staff sergeants, three sergeants, and two specialists. Members of this group allegedly harassed and humiliated Chen from almost the day he arrived at The Palace. They belittled him with racial slurs. They forced him to do push-ups with a mouthful of water, refusing to let him swallow or spit any out. And, on September 27, a sergeant allegedly yanked him out of bed and dragged him across about 50 yards of gravel toward a shower trailer as punishment for supposedly breaking the hot-water pump. He endured bruises and cuts on his back. Army officials told Chen's family that although the leader of his platoon found out about this incident, he never reported it as he was required to.

Chen's mother was joined by family, friends and community members at the unveiling.